Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Aire. Táim thar a bheith sásta gur é féin atá anseo leis an cheist seo a fhreagairt. Tá gach duine ag faire na bpinginí maidir le cúrsaí buiséid agus mar sin de, agus ní haon iontas an tAire ina measc. Táim cinnte go bhfuil sin á dhéanamh aige. I welcome the Minister to the House. I appreciate that as the senior Minister in the Department he has come to the House to reply to my matter on the Adjournment which relates to the overall departmental budget. My questions are straightforward. At this stage of the year, how much of his Department's budget has been spent? Is the Department running a deficit or a surplus? What measures does the Minister intend to take to deal with that deficit or surplus? My questions are in the context of the overall comprehensive review of expenditure. I am aware the Department needed to make savings of ¤6 million this year and that the indicative savings for 2013 will mean a need to slice another ¤10 million, with savings of ¤12 million in 2014. Many groups and organisations are looking for support from the Department from the arts, heritage, cultural and language areas and under headings such as North-South co-operation.

My area of expertise is in the arts, Gaeltacht and Irish language areas. Organisations such as Údarás na Gaeltachta have suffered funding cuts under the previous Government. Capital funding of ¤25 million a number of years ago has decreased to ¤6 million. Capital funding is used to create employment in Gaeltacht areas. Many of these organisations are strapped for cash. I know the Minister intends that all the cash available to him will be made available as funding. He indicated at a number of recent meetings about the Aran Islands air service that cuts in the departmental budget of 6% and 10% will be made next year. We need to have information from the Minister as to the state of his Department's budget for 2012. What are his plans to ensure that any remaining moneys are spent before the end of the year?

What are the Minister's plans to ensure that happens or if he has overspent in any particular areas, how does he intend to compensate for that to ensure compliance with budgetary targets. Bheinn an-buíoch freagra a fháil ar seo agus táim thar a bheith buíoch don Aire as bheith linn.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising the matter in a practical and reasonable fashion. As he will be aware, my Department oversees and has policy responsibility for the conservation, preservation, protection, development and presentation of Ireland's heritage and culture. My Department also seeks to promote the Irish language, to support the Gaeltacht and to assist the sustainable development of island communities. A gross provision of ¤268.451 million was provided to my Department for this purpose in 2012, ¤225.541 million for current expenditure and a further ¤43 million for capital expenditure. A further ¤8.6 million is allocated to the National Gallery Vote, of which ¤7.6 million is current and ¤l million is capital.

Details of the individual expenditure allocations at subhead level are published in the Revised Estimates Volume. Published profiles of expenditure for 2012 at Vote group level, which would include both my Department and the National Gallery, are available on the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's website. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform also publishes, on an ongoing basis, details of my Vote group's monthly expenditure with reference to these published profiles.

As Members will appreciate, a consequence of the significant fiscal deficit facing the country is that we just have not had the resources available in recent years to fund all the services that we would like to provide and my 2012 allocation reflects this position. Accordingly, I am very committed to ensuring that the maximum value is derived from within these provisions in terms of maintaining, promoting and protecting Ireland's heritage and culture, developing cultural tourism, advancing the use of the Irish language, and supporting the sustainable development of the islands. This is clearly reflected in the fact that in 2011, excluding departmental administration, my Department expended approximately 99.76% of its available programme funding.

The Senator will also be aware that while monitoring and management of my Department's expenditure relative to profile at subhead level is carried out on a routine basis, such ongoing expenditure figures are provisional and subject to verification internally through my Department's financial management system and, ultimately, by the Comptroller and Auditor General. I consider that publication of detailed interim expenditure reports at subhead level before year end would require an additional layer of verification and a disproportionate amount of time and work on an ongoing basis that would be difficult to justify. Nevertheless, for the Senator's information, on 31 October 2012, my Department's gross expenditure at 31 October totalled ¤211.3 million, which is on target at 96% of profile. This represents approximately 79% of the total REV allocation for the year. Current expenditure accounts for just under ¤185 million of this total, 98% of profile, with capital expenditure at ¤26.4 million, 84% of profile, accounting for the remainder.

As with last year, I expect that close to my Department's full provision will be utilised and no significant surpluses or deficits are envisaged. I will, of course, continue to closely monitor expenditure trends across all my Department's subheads in the lead up to year end and in line with public financial procedures where necessary I will, under the specific authority of the Minister for Finance, seek to find savings within certain subheads to meet pressures on other subheads within the Department's overall allocation.

We have a monthly meeting at which we look at all expenditure right across the Department. As it is a small Department compared to the Departments of Social Protection, Health, or Education and Skills, it is easy to identify where money is being spent or is not being spent. That is the reason we have had almost a maximum spend before the end of the year. If moneys have not been drawn down before the end of the year obviously they can be transferred to other areas. There will be very little scope to do that because the amount remaining will be very small owing to the pressure on financing.

In the four programme areas of my Department there has been a reduction in funding since 2008 of almost ¤247 million or 51%. I am left with a very tight budget to look after the arts, culture, the Gaeltacht, the islands and so on.

I thank my officials and the organisations that spend the money. They do a very good job at getting more for much less. They are working hard with the available resources to retain the services as much as possible.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Táim thar a bheith buíoch don Aire as an bhfreagra sin. It is good to see there is tight management and that the Minister is confident that the moneys will be spent and spent well. I note that the Department has suffered a huge decrease in funding in recent years. I note for the Gaeltacht and the islands there has been a 64% reduction in the spend. From my rudimentary knowledge of these types of budgets, the Minister notes that current expenditure accounts for just under ¤185 million of the total which is 98% of the profile. I note that at the end of October 98% of the current expenditure is spent. Is that an overspend in the sense that there are still two months to go with only 2% of the budget profile remaining? Perhaps the Minister would clarify that issue, or it may be an accounting issue.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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It is not. It is current expenditure that is committed for salaries and so on. The Department is well within its limits. I acknowledge that the officials in my Department, who may have been in various Departments for some time, are experienced in that respect and are efficient and so on. We are well on target. The Department has managed well. There will be no issue, be it current or otherwise. Sometimes under capital expenditure we expect projects to be completed but for contractual or tendering reasons they may not. Issues could arise as invoices may not be submitted because the contractor may have a difficulty and that could pose a difficulty. If the invoice is not produced the money is still available. That is an issue about which we must be vigilant to ensure it does not happen at the end of the year. My officials are in constant contact with projects which are pending to ensure they are completed, that invoices are submitted and that there is proper verification.